Former South Africa captain Graeme Smith, who is currently overseeing proceedings of Cricket South Africa (CSA) as the Director of cricket, had words of appreciation for the England Test side under Ben Stokes’ captaincy and Brendon McCullum’s coaching for staying true to their way of playing the longest format.
Graeme Smith would also send a clear warning to England that India will now become very hard to catch up to especially after the fashion in which they claimed victory in the 3rd Test at Rajkot by 434 runs. The Three Lions were bowled out for just 122 in their response to the 557 run target posted by the hosts on the back of Yashasvi Jaiswal‘s double ton and Sarfaraz Khan’s half-century in the 3rd innings.
Providing security to players has been the best thing in McCullum’s tenure, feels the former Proteas captain
The former Proteas captain stated that the best part about Brendon McCullum’s tenure as head coach has been the amount of security they have provided to players with their respective style of play. Smith claims that there was a big pool of talent before as well but the McCullum-led management has certainly worked towards removing the element of fear within the English players.
“There’s always been a lot of talent, but they seem to have taken away the fear, provided a lot of security for people and look at the game in a positive way. England are sticking true to the way they want to play in India by applying pressure on the opposition and making them think,” Graeme Smith told Wisden.
Some of the English players like Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett and Ollie Pope among others have excelled under the Bazball philosophy but an old school player like Joe Root has had to pay the price. The former England captain who has accumulated over 11,000 Test runs in his own style, has struggled to score runs in this series. Across the 3 Tests, Joe Root has scores of 29, 2, 5, 16, 18 and 7.
Jonny Bairstow is another name that has struggled in this series as he has scored only 102 runs across the Hyderabad, Vizag and Rajkot Test including a duck in the 2nd innings of 3rd Test. The Three Lions can still have a chance in this series if Bairstow and Root both get their form back and it has become a “must” for them in the 4th Test at Ranchi.
“If India get their noses ahead then they’ll be very difficult to chase down” – Graeme Smith opines on India’s home lethality
Graeme Smith who has captained the South African team towards 2 Test series draws (2008 & 2010) and a loss in 2004 over here, claimed that India tend to become more lethal once they get ahead in a particular series like they are already. The 43-year-old warned the Bazballers that the closing matches of a Test series in India gets very difficult due to the heat and in such cases, its important to stay mentally fresh and positive.
“It’s a very long tour an toiling against India like you have to with long days in the field combined with the heat can wear you down towards the back end. Staying mentally fresh and positive in your gameplan is important. England need to hang tough for as long as possible because if India get their noses ahead then they’ll be very difficult to chase down,” Graeme Smith concluded.